


Fast Enough

by Pleasebrushyourteeth



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:33:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7918885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pleasebrushyourteeth/pseuds/Pleasebrushyourteeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Black Arms invasion, Sonic and Shadow race again for the first time. In the events that follow, the two come together on a better understanding on grief, loss, and living memory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fast Enough

“Come on, Shadow!” the blue speedster called out. “Surely your lil’ rocket shoes can go faster than that!”

The black blur frowned. He would never admit it, but he had always been a sore loser, and as Sonic crossed the makeshift finish line a good two seconds before him, he knew he was in for another trash-talking. He skidded to a stop, gritting his teeth in frustration.

“So am I the fastest thing alive, or am I the fastest thing alive?” Sonic bragged, screeching to a halt and clapping his hands together to mimic applause.

“You’re lucky, that’s what you are,” Shadow replied. “If it weren’t for this rough terrain slowing me down, you wouldn’t have won.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Sonic exclaimed, hands on his hips and tongue sticking out of his mouth. “Can’t handle the fact that you lost?”

“Hmph,” was Shadow’s only response as he crossed his arms over his chest. Sonic pointed and laughed at the pouting form of his rival.

“Well,” Shadow interrupted. “What now?”

Sonic stopped laughing and put a hand to his chin.

“Hmmm… well, I have been meaning to visit Big, and we are in the Mystic Ruins.”

“Who’s Big?”

“Big! Big is great! He’s… well, big! But you’ll like him. Come on, race you to his house!”

“You’re on,” Shadow replied, stepping on the buttons in the heels of his shoes. The rockets in his shoes, however, did not turn on. He tried pressing the buttons some more, but still nothing happened.

“What the hell…”

“Ha!” Sonic laughed, a finger pointed at Shadow’s shoes. “Someone ran out of juice for his precious cheating machines!”

“Shut up!” Shadow snapped. “That can’t be possible! Chaos Drives are supposed to be infinite!”

“Then maybe there’s a technical jam or something. Either way, you can’t race, and therefore I win by default.”

“You can’t win a race that was never started!”

“Ooh, someone’s mad that I’m gonna have to carry him all the way to Big’s place!”

“… Why don’t we just jog, instead?”

“Jog?” Sonic gawked, a hurt look on his face. “You expect me to jog just because you’re too slow?”

“Well, I guess I can go home and you can go to Big’s on your own.”

“… Fine, we’ll jog, but we’re still racing, and don’t expect me to go easy on you!”

Shadow smirked.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, hedgehog.”

-

The jog to Big’s house was… well, refreshing. Sonic was obviously annoyed at having to slow down for his rival of all people, but Shadow thought it was actually rather relaxing to not have to worry about dodging vines or logs every other second. He had been meaning to take some time off to just enjoy the countryside, and despite Sonic’s constant whining, he was actually very happy with how this trip was going.

What he wasn’t so happy about was meeting Big, for the second Sonic said his name, the giant cat lifted him of the ground in a massive bear hug.

“Cream tells me that you are very nice,” the cat told the squirming hedgehog. “So that means you can be a friend of me and Froggy!”

Sonic snickered as Big put Shadow down, accidentally ruffling his quills in the process.

“Well,” Sonic interjected. “How have you been doing, Big?”

“Oh, I’ve been great!” Big replied happily. “Froggy and I have been fishing and hiking and napping, and a few days ago Amy came to visit me, and she brought me all sorts of goodies from the city! Here, let me show you!”

The two hedgehogs followed the cat into his shack, where a short table covered with a pile of assorted treats sat adjacent to a small bed. Everyone kneeled around the table at Big’s instruction, and he began trifling through the pile of candies, sweets, and small toys.

“Ooh, Sonic! Look at this one!”

Big handed Sonic a small doll that almost resembled the blue hedgehog.

“Wow, the Station Square dudes made me into a doll?”

“Yup!” Big responded happily as he returned to the pile. “Look, I have a Tails one and a Knuckles one and an Amy one, too! Miss Vanilla even says she’s gonna try to make me and Froggy dolls as well!”

Big passed the three new dolls to Shadow, who smiled faintly at the sight of the cute, if not very accurate toys. Big, however, frowned as he looked upon the black hedgehog.

“Sorry, I don’t have any dolls of you, Shadow.”

“That’s alright, Big,” Shadow chuckled, trying to think of a way to cheer up his new friend. “I don’t think anyone wants a toy with super memory-loss powers, anyways.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow saw Sonic slightly grimace at his statement. Before he could react, however, Big spoke up.

“Sonic, are you ok?” Big asked.

“Yeah, Big, I’m fine!” Sonic replied, flashing the cat a grin and a thumbs up.

“Alright, Sonic. Now,” Big got up and went to his bed, where he picked up three fishing poles.

“Do you guys wanna go fishing with me?” he asked, a goofy smile spread over his face. Sonic and Shadow exchanged looks, then Sonic shrugged.

“Might as well, huh, Shadow?”

Not wanting to upset his friends, Shadow simply nodded.

-

Neither of the hedgehogs were particularly good fishers, but it didn’t really matter to Shadow: watching Sonic get dragged into the river by a large fish was reward enough.

“Very funny, huh, Shadow?” The blue blur asked as he waded in the waist-deep water, a look of clear disdain on his face.

“That fish wanted to be your friend!” Big interjected, prompting Shadow to scoff and Sonic to narrow his eyes further at the two on land.

After exiting the river and drying off, Sonic declared that he was ready to head home. “Gotta get this stinking fish smell of me,” he asserted. So he and Shadow said goodbye to Big, and were currently jogging back to Tails’ place on the other side of the Ruins.

“Well, that went well, don’t you think?” Shadow chirped.

“If you’re gonna talk about the fish, then I’m gonna stop you right there, Shadow.”

Shadow chuckled.

“Fine, I won’t talk about that,” Shadow replied. “But thank you for taking me to meet Big. He certainly was as… pleasant as Cream let on.”

“No problem, buddy. I’m always happy to-“

Before Sonic could finish his statement, he stopped in his tracks. Shadow stopped as well, attempting to see past his rival and the trees around them.

“Sonic, why are you stopping?” Shadow asked.

“I… uh… just remembered a faster way to Tails’ place! Come on, follow me!”

Sonic turned around and began jogging in the opposite direction. Not at all convinced by that story, Shadow made his way to where Sonic was previously standing. In front of him was a small clearing on a cliff leaning over the ocean. “Why wouldn’t Sonic want to go this way?” he thought to himself as he scanned his surroundings. Then, he saw it: by the edge of the cliff were two large, gray rocks with writing on them. Around these two rocks were many other smaller, different-colored rocks with what appeared to be names on them. He walked over to inspect this makeshift shrine of sorts, but then felt the presence of another individual and turned around, where he beheld Sonic glaring at him.

“I told you to follow me, Shadow,” Sonic stated bluntly.

“I… Um…” Shadow started, struggling to think up an excuse for his behavior. Before he could reply, however, Sonic sighed.

“You weren’t supposed to find that. No one was.”

Shadow looked back down at the stones.

“… Why?” He asked.

“Because…” Sonic began with a soft smile. “… They’re special stones.”

“What’s so special about them?”

“… They’re memory stones. See,” Sonic picked up one of a small, blue stone by Shadow’s feet and held it up to his rival. “This one reminded me of my dad, so I wrote his name on it.”

He put that stone down and picked up some more, showing each to Shadow.

“And these two reminded me of Tails’ parents, and these remind me of Tikal and Chaos, and this little one reminds me of Emerl. And these big ones…” He pointed to the two gray stones.

“These remind me all of the people of Station Square and Westopolis.”

“Why would you need reminding of these people?” Shadow asked quietly.

“Because they’re not here anymore, Shadow.”

Shadow felt like the breath had been kicked out of him. Sonic, however, continued.

“They’re not here because…. I wasn’t….”

“Sonic?” Shadow leaned in slightly toward Sonic, but the blue hedgehog stopped him, holding his head up high.

“But as long as I have these stones, I’ll always be able to remember them.”

Sonic looked down, then smiled and reached for a black and red stone near the foot of the shrine.

“Here,” he said as he passed the rock to a dismayed Shadow. “You can have this one, I won’t be needing it anymore.”

Shadow looked down at the stone, his name scribbled in blue on it. He softly smiled.

“… Thanks, Sonic.”

“Sure thing, Shadow. One condition, though," Sonic stated as he turned to the black hedgehog.

"What's that?"

"We speak of this to no one, alright? I don't need people thinking I'm soft like you!"

Shadow smirked.

"Whatever, faker."

Sonic grinned.

"Alright, then! Well, we better head back to Tails' place, it's getting late!"

And with that, the two hedgehogs left the clearing, leaving the shrine in peace once again.


End file.
